ORTALID^E SYSTEMATIC DISTRIBUTION. 47 



Stenoplerina decora Macq. is, as has been observed above, the 

 typical species of the genus Euchalcota; S. gigas, scutellaris, 

 and nigripes of Macquart, all three from Tasmania, are certainly 

 no Stenopterinse. There would be more ground to place in that 

 genus the Ortalis violacea of Macquart, which is probably cor- 

 rectly identified in the Berlin Museum with Dacus macularis 

 Fab. fferina mexicana Macq. also belongs to Stenopterina, and 

 H. calcarata Macq., although perhaps not a true Stenopterina, 

 is closely related to that genus. The three species described by 

 Walker (List of Dipt. Ins.), bicolor, of unknown origin, tri- 

 vittata, from the Philippine Islands, and basalis, from Australia, 

 do not seem to have anything in common with true Stenopterinse. 

 A true Stenopterina is S. submetallica Lw., from Mozambique ; 

 and Eerina chalybea Doleschall, belongs probably to the same 

 genus. 



As I will have to characterize Stenopterina in detail among 

 the North American genera of Ortalidse, it will suffice here to 

 indicate the principal characters. Head resembling that of 

 Dacus in structure ; occiput convex, but not swollen. Front of 

 a considerable and even breadth. Antennae long and narrow, 

 generally descending a little beyond the anterior edge of the 

 mouth, which is somewhat drawn upwards ; clypeus broad ; pro- 

 boscis stout. Thorax narrow; the pectus ascending obliquely 

 in front, so that the thorax, seen from the side, is rather con- 

 spicuously attenuated anteriorly. Fore coxaa remarkably long, 

 inserted unusually near the neck and very movable in this inser- 

 tion. Scutellum with four bristles. Abdomen narrow ; wings 

 long and narrow ; little crossvein oblique, placed beyond the 

 middle of the long discal cell ; the third and fourth longitudinal 

 veins, in the majority of the species, are somewhat bent towards 

 each other, so that the first posterior cell becomes narrower 

 towards its end. In all the species I know of, the stigma, as 

 well as a border between it and the apex, and the first basal cell, 

 up to the small crossvein, are tinged with brown ; in most spe- 

 cies the posterior crossvein has likewise a dark border. 



The next genus to be mentioned here is the genus MISCHO- 

 o ASTER Macq., founded upon Cephalia femoralis Wied. Mischo- 

 gaster pernix and diffusus Gerst, belong to it. It differs from 

 Cephalia in the absence of a mesothoracic bristle, and in the face, 

 which does not project inferiorly ; from the following genus it is 



